The invention relates to ceramic materials. More particularly, the invention relates to nanoscale ordered composites of covalent ceramic materials through block copolymer assisted assembly.
Composite materials having long-range order exist in nature. Natural composites, such as seashells, exhibit extraordinary mechanical properties that stem from the unique hierarchically-ordered structure in these materials. This realization has consequently triggered an effort to mimic nature by building long-range ordered structures at the nanoscale level. Order on the nanoscale can be used in turn to create hierarchically ordered structures on micron and millimeter scales.
The technology to produce nanoscale inorganic ordered structures includes “top-down” approaches, such as sequential deposition and nanolithography, and “bottom-up” approaches, such as self-assembly based on ionic and nonionic surfactants and block copolymers. Inorganic ceramic materials, such as silica and oxides having nanoscale order have been obtained by self-assembly using organic species as structure-directing agents. Polymeric precursors have been used to develop nanotubes and nanofibers of boron nitride, boron carbide, and silicon carbide, and to fabricate high temperature MEMS with dimensions in the micron to sub-millimeter range. Block copolymers have been used to fabricate nanostructured arrays of carbon.
Current synthetic techniques such as self-assembly approach have not yielded hierarchically-ordered non-oxide ceramic materials for high temperature applications. Therefore, what is needed are hierarchically-ordered non-oxide ceramic materials that are stable at high temperatures. What is also needed is a block polymer assisted assembly method of making such hierarchically-ordered non-oxide ceramic materials that are stable at high temperatures.